Wasn't his conviction a product of the times? Would he be convicted today, now that the Enron/Worldcom/Tyco "corporate greed" storyling has faded? It's too knee-jerk a reaction to say "the law is the law is the law..." isn't it?

11:35 am March 26, 2007

free dennis wrote:

I fail to see how Tyco got lumped in with the megafrauds. Looks like Tyco is doing pretty well these days. Ironically, Tyco's current split-up plan seems remarkably similar to the plan proposed by Kozlowski before everything went crazy.

11:45 am March 26, 2007

Marx wrote:

"class envy"

11:51 am March 26, 2007

Nietzsche wrote:

Ressentiment?

11:53 am March 26, 2007

Morgenthau wrote:

But what about those paintings? If nothing else, the charges that DK evaded NY sales taxes on pricey paintings seemed like a slam dunk.

12:13 pm March 26, 2007

clarks wrote:

he stole from the shareholders in many ways and is guilty. let him rot in the pen.

12:13 pm March 26, 2007

clarks wrote:

he stole from the shareholders in many ways and is guilty. let him rot in the pen.

12:15 pm March 26, 2007

KDM wrote:

I bet he'd like to have any kind of shower curtain now that he's in the joint.

12:17 pm March 26, 2007

hicomp wrote:

getting a paid a ton of $ is not theft. if he was openly getting paid tons, why would he need to steal any? sounds like the board was willing to give him anything. the directors may have been spineless, but that doesn't mean the CEO is a crook.

12:20 pm March 26, 2007

JerryB wrote:

The new title fits him well; Prisoner 05A4820. I hope he holds it for a long time.

12:24 pm March 26, 2007

FED-UP-WITH-CEO'S wrote:

CEO"s, they all belong in jail, stealing from the shareholders. No one is worth millions of dollars made off the backs of blue and white collar workers who get very little for their effort in return.

12:41 pm March 26, 2007

There you go Fed-UP! wrote:

Hell, forget proof, or even the silly concern that juries might give in to resetment and class prejudice. Let's just throw 'em all in jail! Viva the revolution!

12:53 pm March 26, 2007

taipan wrote:

Hang in there Dennis and Mark. You lived the American dream but as Gekko said, "You're not naive enough to think we live in a democracy, are you?" The DA's office is responsible for the loss of shareholder value, not the Koz. The Blue chip Tyco board realized they were sloppy and offered up Koz and Swartz. Some connect people made a lot of money shorting Tyco when the fall came.

12:54 pm March 26, 2007

John L wrote:

This man ruined lives of a lot
of people.Makeing people take
off with no pay.So he could get his bonuses.Cut benifits
chopped up companys.Added more
word to people.Hope he pulls
the hole 25 years.

1:01 pm March 26, 2007

Thomason wrote:

I recall that some of the problem was a Board that either lacked oversight, or was a hand-picked group of rubber stamps, for the executive branch.

1:40 pm March 26, 2007

John wrote:

I worked there, so I know first hand the damage he caused. It was all about the numbers, and no questions were asked as long as you made the number they wanted. The only shame is they missed prosecuting a bunch of the others who made hundred's of thousand's of dollars in bonuses for playing numbers games.

2:26 pm March 26, 2007

Class of 2000 wrote:

I'm right there with you on the Tar Heels-related suffering.

2:47 pm March 26, 2007

dome wrote:

Easy to vilify with that Lex Luthor look. A little makeover might have eased his way to reasonable doubt.

2:52 pm March 26, 2007

Ed G. wrote:

It's amazing that I own shares at $47.00 (still losing over 50%) and still haven't recovered from Kozlowski's pilfering. I hope he stays in jail for the full 25 years and has plenty of time to think of how I ended paying for his wife to be wedding. Maybe that money should have gone to the bottom line. How about selling the 5th Avenue Apartment and reap some profits from the interior decorator's exhuberances????

2:53 pm March 26, 2007

Ed G. wrote:

It's amazing that I own shares at $47.00 (still losing over 50%) and still haven't recovered from Kozlowski's pilfering. I hope he stays in jail for the full 25 years and has plenty of time to think of how I ended paying for his wife to be wedding. Maybe that money should have gone to the bottom line. How about selling the 5th Avenue Apartment and reap some profits from the interior decorator's exhuberances????

2:55 pm March 26, 2007

rtc wrote:

these DA's have been given too much power.They are ecouraged to prey on Companies or successfull people to create high profile cases to advance thier political ambitions...Case in point the biggest scammer of all the Governor of NY.

3:03 pm March 26, 2007

Corporate Parrot Head wrote:

I am ashamed that Jimmy Buffett ever lowered himself to play such a party. We've put enough money in his pocket over the years - how sad that he got tied in with this situation. Guess a million bucks makes him sing.

3:06 pm March 26, 2007

Chuck wrote:

Too bad the spineless Tyco board who refused to say no to Koslowski cannot be in there with him.

3:27 pm March 26, 2007

Anan wrote:

What is the story about the art in NY? I haven't been paying much attention to this story, but something about not paying taxes or keeping them out of NY, or something?

3:31 pm March 26, 2007

jim k wrote:

I know a sharpe idiot that worked for tyco in Ruverside that will never retire as he had the whole bundle in tyco stock. maybe the company will get him a cane.

7:41 pm March 26, 2007

Fight The Corrupt a/k/a KinMapper wrote:

Tyco was no Enron, but Dennis was a greedy corporate thief just the same. All the same some of the board of Tyco needs to be more punished than they were, for they were silent accomplices.

4:21 am March 27, 2007

kevin m wrote:

dennis just doesnt get it,,,,,,,he looted the company with those loans to himself and swartz,,,,and then forgave the loans,,,,and, the only one on the board who knew about it, is the dead guy,,,,,,,how convenient,,,,,,,,,lol

1:59 pm March 27, 2007

Richard Gozinu wrote:

If you feel that badly about Dennis write him a letter and tell him yourself: Mid-State Correctional Facility-PO Box 2500, 13403-Marcy, NY 13403-0216. Dennis and his entire crew at every level were and are nothing more than grossly overpaid thugs who could have taken the money 'legitimately' as do other CEO's, who do not build anything, by simply having a piece of paper authorizing it. The Board would have gladly given him that authority since he had them eating out of the palm of his hand.Ironically, his own arrogance, much like that of Bernie Kerik and the like, got the best of him.I hope he brought plenty of personal lubricant for his long stay....

8:21 pm March 27, 2007

keen observer wrote:

Morley Safer was a mainstream-media scumbag and lowlife for linking Martha Stewart to Enron, WorldCom, Koslowski and a "wave of white collar crimes." This was a reprehensible abuse and misuse of the First Amendment freedom of the press and the media power of CBS News.

The bogus conviction and trumped-up charges relating to Ms. Stewart's perfectly legal small, personal investment trade had no connection to her company, her corporate position or "white collar crimes." She perpetuated no massive corporate looting, plundering and accounting fraud on her company. She was of no relevance to the miscreants of egregious, massive corporate malfeasance. The criminal justice system was abused and misused on her for political gain in a political persecution targeted at her destruction.

Safer's media assault of misrepresentation on Martha Stewart reinforced mainstream media's lack of credibility and disconnect from a code of journalistic ethics and integrity.

11:07 pm March 27, 2007

Longtime follower wrote:

What all you people claiming "thief" forget is that a) what he said is correct... all of their info came right off the books, and b) he turned a $10B market value company into a $100B marekt value company in only 10 years. If he got paid $1B to do it, I'll take that trade-off any time. Certainly better than Ed "I've created no value and no growth" Brean. And yes, I lost $000's when it dropped because of the bogus charges.

7:50 am March 28, 2007

Gray Eminence wrote:

1. (re: above) Martha Stewart is no martyr to judicial overkill. She only served time for lying to federal investigators, a crime for which she received a modest sentence. Stewart could have avoided Camp Cupcake simply by telling the truth.

2. Dennis Kozlowski lived large for years before the Tyco debacle. The boy from New Jersey styled himself after 19th century robber barons, acquiring mansions, masterpieces, and a former America's Cup contender, "Defender." But pride goeth before the fall. Deception was never far away from Kozlowski, however, and consequently the conspicuous consumption is gone with his reputation. Even Berwick Academy in Maine chiseled his name as donor off the school's new athletic facility. Instead of just feeling sorry for himself as he paces in jail, he should learn from the experience and attempt to grow spiritually. Whatever the pricetags, toys are for the immature.

3. Perhaps the biggest injustice of 1990s corporate malfeasance is the one who got away -- Richard Scrushy, formerly of HealthSouth. Prosecutors should have explained to his jury that the innocent generally don't plead the Fifth Ammendment at a federal inquiry.

10:03 am March 28, 2007

keen observer wrote:

Gray Eminence, you are a liar yourself. You have no first hand knowledge of the facts; you have no factual basis and you are in no position to assert as a truth your false assertion "she served time for lying to federal investigators" There was no written record or audio recording of the questions that were asked of her by the Federal goons; there was no written record or audio recording of her true responses in her own words; she was never under oath. Martha Stewart did no "lying to federal investigators"; she told the truth and nothing but the truth - the very reason no evidence existed of her verbatim responses. You are a lying state propagandist yourself or simply brainwashed by mainstream-media propaganda reporting, obviously having the intellect of a nitwit.

11:44 am March 28, 2007

N&R wrote:

I'd like to how many of the above attended the trial or got their info from the impaired media? My wife and I attended many days of the trial only to read the next day reports that were completely biased against the defense!

10:11 pm March 28, 2007

WKR wrote:

And the $2 million birthday for his soon-to-be ex-wife on Sardinia complete with a Jimmy Buffett concert and anatomically correct ice sculptures a film of which was shown to the jury at trial? All this while laying off 10,000 people. good luck with the KY jelly.

10:12 pm March 28, 2007

WKR wrote:

And the $2 million birthday for his soon-to-be ex-wife on Sardinia complete with a Jimmy Buffett concert and anatomically correct ice sculptures a film of which was shown to the jury at trial? All this while laying off 10,000 people. good luck with the KY jelly.

9:27 am March 29, 2007

N&R wrote:

In the post above, the trial I was talking about was Dennis'.....not Martha. But I do agree with "Keen Observer" about the mainstream media propaganda!

11:52 pm March 30, 2007

DCL wrote:

Alan--on the art/tax fraud, this is what he did (his greed had no bounds--making piles of cash, but evading taxes on artwork--typical rich get richer and screw everyone else (Martha included. She got tipped off and dumped her stock TO SAVE $45,000!!!Ma and Pa small investor doesn't get inside info from the CEO like her and takes it is the ass. So she tried to play CYA and ended up in Club Fed. Anyway, sidebar over---here is what good ol' Dennis did:

He was charged with dodging $1 million in sales tax by shipping art bought in New York to Tyco's offices, only to have them rerouted to his Fifth Avenue apartment.

In some cases, Tyco employees signed for empty boxes to dupe tax officials, prosecutors said. New Hampshire has no sales tax, while the combined city and state sales tax in Manhattan is 8.25 percent.

So he would buy art IN NEW YORK, have the art or empty boxes shipped to New Hampshire, having someone sign for them there to avoid NY taxes on the art and then have them driven back to Manhattan. And just why the hell are Tyco shareholders furnishing his apartment with $12.5 MILLION in artwork--the CEO and the B of Ds in our nation have really ginned the system. Blue and white collar workers get laid off by the thousand from guys like K-ski, while they fly in a Lear to Aspen to the "company" condo. It's sad and criminal. Yes, capitalism is great and socialism sucks, but come on--are there NO limits??

I hope Dennis enjoys punching license plates. Better yet, I hope he gets 'punched' once for every slice of foie gras and excess he eat on the backs of the employees.

11:59 pm March 30, 2007

DCL wrote:

sorry for the typos: "Better yet, I hope he gets 'punched' once for every slice of foie gras and excess he ATE on the backs of the employees."

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The Law Blog covers the legal arena’s hot cases, emerging trends and big personalities. It’s brought to you by lead writer Jacob Gershman with contributions from across The Wall Street Journal’s staff. Jacob comes here after more than half a decade covering the bare-knuckle politics of New York State. His inside-the-room reporting left him steeped in legal and regulatory issues that continue to grab headlines.

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